Even though you do not believe in a supreme power, do you still do things related to more than what is purely elemental, like:<OL TYPE=1>

<LI>philosophize?

<LI>study psychoanalysis? (sub- and unconscious processes)

<LI>meditate?</OL>

[This message has been edited by Tyrant (edited 02-21-2004).]

Philosophy...why not? It's mostly for personal entertainment rather than a lifeset that you must adhere to...to be honest, I have no philosophy that I live life by, I just read about them to get various peoples' perspectives on life. Nice to know how people view their lives, and ways to improve their lives.

Psychoanalysis and psychology, hell yeah I'm interested in it. Trying to determine the cause of various effects within our own species' mind is the pinnacle of self-understanding. Plus, neurology is starting to back up a great deal of the common themes in psychology and psychoanalytical practices.

What kind of meditation do you ask about? There are people who consider it balancing the spirit, others who simply call relaxing and going brain dead a few hours a meditative state. Personally, I relax myself by staring at a wall. My muscles go limp and my mind goes blank, usually for a couple hours a day. If complete relaxation and emptiness of thought is what you consider meditation, then yes, I meditate. There's no spiritual side to it though, atleast for maself.

All of these do have real connections with the real world. The mind is a wonderfull thing and so many good things can be done with it like analyzing life and existance and how we should act. Just because there is no god doesn't mean there is no point.

[This message has been edited by jm5k (edited 02-21-2004).]

I consider myself an agnostic, but some refer to me as a "weak atheist." That being said, yes, I do all of those things. Even though I am not sure if God exists or not, and even though I don't believe in an afterlife, I am still alive and live in this world like everyone else. I study many different philosophies, like the works of Nietzche(sp?), Thoreau, Confuscious, but I find the philosophy of Buddha to be most relevent to me. I'm not a Buddhist, I just follow Buddhist ethics and practices(to the best of my ability). I don't believe that Buddha was any kind of god, merely a philosopher, and I also don't believe in reincarnation or nirvana. Psychoanalysis and psychology, yes, so far I've taken 3 psych classes and have read almost all my mom's old psych books(who is a psychologist). I find it very interesting how the mind works and apply what I learn to daily life and my beliefs. Meditation, of course, that would go along with Buddhism. I just focus on my breathing until my mind is clear, then I can finally think without any of the interferences or stresses of my daily life. I hope this answers your question about atheists, or at least about me.

I do philosophize alot, but I may stop. I hit a major impasse, and it's just fucking with me. Philosophy has alot of the same problems as religion, though on a greatly reduced scale. Namely, that it's mostly conjecture.

Psychoanalysis- Somewhat. It's interesting, but not a major topic for me.

Meditation- Yeah. I meditate, but not to attain enlightenment. More to focus myself. Though I do talk about my chi alot.

simply put, no...well i guess sometimes i philosophize

[This message has been edited by Cattapillar (edited 02-24-2004).]

Yes, philosophy is a huge part of my life. It is almost a form of religion, but not quite.....dammit now im confused.